The stories about animal doctors that I heard since childhood turned out to be from Putian!

The most hated fraud is that in the medical field.

Humans can tear off the veil of civilization to fight for the blood of others, and there are also "Putian" doctors in the "barbaric" world, whose tricks are surprisingly similar to those of humans. However, we cannot comment on whether their behavior is right or wrong.

Blood-sucking "doctor"

Small birds with red beaks and yellow eyes are seen on the backs of huge rhinos, which is a unique sight on the African grasslands. These birds are called oxpeckers (Buphagus), and there are two types: red-billed oxpeckers (B. erythrorhynchus) and yellow-billed oxpeckers (B. africanus). They almost exclusively feed on the bodies of large African animals. They sometimes peck at blood-sucking ticks, so they have always been regarded as "dermatologists" of large animals.

Red-billed Oxpecker | Charles J Sharp

But "stuff on the body" is a very broad term, including parasites, secretions, and dander. Oxpeckers spend 85% of their foraging time drinking blood from large animals' wounds, cleaning their ears, and stroking the fur of animals with their mouths (probably looking for dander), while they only spend 5% of their time catching ticks. "Doctor" is really a misnomer.

Researchers often observe that oxpeckers ignore ticks biting animals and drink the blood from the wounds with relish. They really like to eat ticks that are full of blood (explosive!). But for the bitten animal, the damage has already been done, and removing the tick will not do any good.

Looking for the Yellow-billed Oxpecker丨Steve Garvie / flickr

Paul Weeks of the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge has conducted experiments to study the effects of oxpeckers on animals. He chose a ranch in Zimbabwe where there were many red-billed oxpeckers; he isolated a group of cattle from the oxpeckers and found that ticks did not increase, but the wounds on the cattle healed faster .

If oxpeckers are around, they will enlarge the wound to drink blood , making it impossible for the wound to scab properly. What's more, a cow's foreskin was bitten by a tick, and the oxpeckers repeatedly pecked at this place, causing infection and swelling. In the end, the unfortunate cow could not get an erection.

"There is one thing I must say" | Charles J Sharp

However, an unexpected discovery is that after the oxpeckers were driven away, the amount of earwax in the cows increased significantly . The main component of earwax is long-chain fatty acids, so oxpeckers can get energy by eating earwax. Earwax can protect the external auditory canal, but if it is embedded too deeply in the ear canal, it may cause ear canal infection, and too much earwax can also affect hearing.

So, we don’t know yet whether driving away oxpeckers is a good thing or a bad thing.

Putian system in the sea

Although they are doing the same job, the animals that occupy the ecological niche of "pecking parasites" in the sea are much more dedicated than oxpeckers. There are about 45 known species of cleaner fish in the world, the most famous of which is the black and white striped cleaver (Labroides dimidiatus).

Although they may occasionally steal mucus from large fish, cleaner fish spend most of their foraging time catching parasites on the surface of large fish (or other large marine animals), which can be said to be very conscientious .

Cleaner fish are generally "homebodies" and only move around in a very small area. The "patients" they see are mostly fish that have fixed areas. Big fish can go to the same "hospital" for treatment again and again, establishing a long-term "doctor-patient relationship". In order to attract "patients", "doctors" will do their best to serve big fish . "Patients" want to get long-term service and respect "doctors" as much as possible . Cleaner fish can swim into the gill cavity or even the mouth of big fish without worrying about being swallowed.

It is an enviable "doctor-patient relationship"丨Nhobgood / wikimedia

This basic trust between fish can be exploited by some "criminals". The body shape and black and white stripes of the three-banded blenny (Aspidontus taeniatus) are very similar to those of the cleaverfish. It usually swims with its tail fin, while the cleaverfish uses its pectoral fins, but when it encounters a large fish, it will also use its pectoral fins to paddle the water, thereby pretending to be a "doctor" and avoiding being killed by the fish.

When food is scarce, the fake "doctor" will use disguise to approach the big fish, and while the big fish is waiting for treatment, pounce on it, bite off a piece of its fin and then run away . They can be said to be the Putian school of the sea.

Fake "doctor" three-banded shield blenny丨Izuzuki

"Vampire" opens a milk tea shop

Woodpeckers are known as forest doctors, but there is also a type of woodpecker that is rebellious and becomes the "vampire" of the forest.

There are four species of sap-sucking woodpeckers (Sphyrapicus spp.), all of which live in North America. They don't actually suck sap from trees, but rather peck at the bark and lick the sap that comes out . Unlike woodpeckers, which have long tongues with barbs on the tip to snag insects, sap-sucking woodpeckers have shorter tongues with bristles on the surface that can pick up sap like a brush.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (S. varius) and its tongue | Black Swamp Bird Observatory

The sap that sap-sucking woodpeckers drink comes mainly from a thin layer of tissue between the bark and the wood, called the phloem. Phloem sap contains sugars produced by photosynthesis in the leaves , which are used by plants for growth and are also a good source of energy for animals.

In the trunk and large branches, the sugary sap of the phloem flows from top to bottom, toward the roots. The sap-sucking woodpecker pecks holes in these areas to extract the sap. Over the next few days, it will continue to enlarge the hole to obtain more sap.

A pecked tree is like a gnawed corn. Frank King / ebird.org

However, just as a wound in a person stops bleeding, when the phloem is injured, it produces proteins and sugars to plug the wound and stop the loss of sap. The tree hole dries up. The sap flowing from top to bottom accumulates above the blocked tree hole, just like a dam accumulates water.

So, the sap-sucking woodpeckers dig new holes above the old holes . In order to get the most sap, the new holes must be right next to the old holes. When the new holes are blocked again, the woodpeckers continue to dig holes upwards, finally forming rows of small holes with a "crowd-scaring effect".

People often say that "a tree lives by its bark." If woodpeckers drill too many holes, the transport of phloem sap will be blocked and the tree will die.

A dead North American birch tree, riddled with holes | Cephas / wikimedia

In orchards, sap-sucking woodpeckers are considered pests. But for squirrels, porcupines, other birds and many insects, the tree trunks pierced by woodpeckers are a valuable source of sugar. The biggest beneficiary is the ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). They arrive in Canada in early spring when nectar is scarce. The tree holes dug by sap-sucking woodpeckers are the "milk tea shops" that prolong their lives.

Author: Red Queen

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